Treatment of textile fibers



Patented July 5, 1938 TREATMENT or TEXTILE FIBERS Henry A. Stafford,Ridley Park, Pa.

No Drawing. Application March 5, 1935, Serial No. 9,421

3 Claims.

The object of the present invention is to ef-, feet a material savingand economy in the preparation of textile fibers,= suchas raw silk,without detracting from their adaptability for knitting, weaving, orbraiding, and with some im provement in their adaptability for shadingor dyeing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a composition orcompounded oil useful in the w accomplishment of the purpose recited by.the method which is subject-matter of the present invention.

Another object of my invention is to provide three ways in which textilefibers treated with my novel compounded oil maybe used:

(1) They may be treated with my novel compounded, oil in the soakingtreatment, which treatment may be followed by the manufacture of fabricwithout the use of water heretofore employed immediately before thefabric manufacturing step.; a

' (2) The soaking treatment may be followed by a treatment with waterimmediately before the fabric manufacturing step as now practised.

(3) The soaking treatment may be followed by a further treatment with mynovel compounded oil immediately bef re the fabric manufacturing step. Ie

Other objects of the invention will appear from .the followingdescription at the end of which the invention-will be claimed.

Generally stated;"the invention consists in treating raw silk, for thepurpose of softening.

it, and; if desired, of moistening it, witha colloidal dispersion ortrue solution of compounded 35 oil, instead of with an emulsion of oiland water.

Generally stated, the invention also comprises a compounded oilpreferably mineral, although vegetable or animal oils are within theinvention, of which the viscosity is from 40 to 300 seconds Sayboltuniversal viscosity, 100 F., and which may or may not contain waterlimited in quantity to avoid the formation of an emulsion 'or milkyfluid.

ments to be presently described and finally claimed.

An exampleselected from many modifications which my invention may takeis given below.

50 Suchexample of compounded oil adapted for K The invention alsocomprises the improve- I use without water or with water limited inamount to avoid emulsiflcation, and of the character of a colloidaldispersionror true solution is:

. Per cent 5 Mineral oil, 40 to 300 seconds Saybolt universal viscosity100 F Petroleum soap including an alkaline salt of sulphonic ornaphthenic acid or a combination of both 18.0v Butyl carbitol 10 Higherfatty alcohol 2.0

To this compounded oil may be added, for example, up to ,50%'of water.The proportions given are by volume. I 5

The hydrogen ion concentration (pH) of any of the compounded oilsaccording to my invention may conveniently be controlled between '7 andl0.5-pH.

Higher fatty alcohol is a solvent having a boiling point under400 C.

Other examples of compounded oil will be given but for the sake ofdescription the invention will be described in connection withsubstantially the compounded oil recited,

The unopened skeins of silk are treated or immersed in the colloidaldispersion or solution of the ingredients above named for acomparatively short period of time, for example, a half hour. The resultis that the silk-absorbs the compounded oil without materially changingthe proportions of the ingredients or the physical characteristics ofthe compounded oil which is- ,not absorbed. The gum on the silkissoftened and the fiber is; lubricated. If it is desired to moisten thesilk fiber with water, water in limited quantityis includedi'n thecompounded oil and is absorbed by the silk without materially changingthe water content of the oil or the physical characteristics of the restof the compounded oil. 40 By proportioning the quantity of water in thecompounded oil, it is possible to get into the fiber by absorption anyrequired quantity of water and oil.

For the sake of further description, it may be said that the compoundedoil with or without water is absorbed by the fiber and is present in,the fiber, and isof approximately the same constitution as it was inthe bath or initial supply.

The'visc'osity of the compounded oil ensures pene- I portant in theextracting operation, such as the whizzing operation or the vacuumoperation, because the excess of compounded oil is thrown out or drawnout of the fiber at that operation and not at subsequent steps in themanufacture or treatment. From the above it followsthat the tracted toleave any desired amount in the fiber.

This is important and is in sharp contrast with the practice usuallyemployed at the present time of using a wateremulsion which causes thequantity and proportion of its ingredients which go into the fiber tobeuncertain and variable. By using a colloidal dispersion or solution asdistinguished from anemulsion, the fiber does not contain an excess ofwater and does not require to bedried, whereby a substantial economy iseffected. Because the quantity of lubricant and the quantity of water,if wateris employed with the lubricant, in the fiber is definite anduniform and can be controlled in the extracting operation, it ispossible to perform both the soaking and the extracting operations inone receptacle, which is not done at the present time.

The skeins are treated by my invention with out opening them up andendangering breakage which would incur waste. The skeins are then woundonto bobbins and may be thereafter utilized andtreated in the usual way.The compounded oil described is suiiiciently hygroscopic to take up anywater that may be necessary during the knitting operation.

The silk .by this method is in condition to be knitted by somemanufacturers without further treatment by water or oil.

Also, by varying the composition of the compounded oil, it can besubstituted for water in the conditioning attachments 9n the knittingmachine, thereby eliminating the possibility of rusting of the machineparts.

In hosiery manufacture, the described cornpounded oil washes out duringthe boiling-off operation along with the gum, and the soaps function todisperse dye and therefore, being present along with the gum, facilitatedyeing. In fact, they also facilitate tinting the thread prior to theknitting operation.

In another example of the compounded oil, use is made of sulphonatedvegetable oil, as olive or castor, or'of animal oil, such as oleic. Theviscosity-is as above recited. An alkaline salt of sulphonic ornaphthenic acid, or a combination of both, is employed and, as. astabilizer, butyl cellosolve' or butyl carbitol may be employed and,except as stated, the formula and proportions are as above given.

As another example of the compoundedsoil Per cent The last-namedingredient is not in all cases I necessary and waterisnot employed.

By the present invention, vegetable oil or mineral oil may be employedbut the former does not 2,122,598 tration into the fiber. The viscosityis also imkeep well and the latter is much more stable. Of course, ineach case, these oils are used in a colloidal dispersion or truesolution that can be As stated, the viscosity of the oil is from 40 to300 seconds Saybolt universal viscosity, 100 F., and the viscosity iscontrolled by the character and quantity of the soap, the composition ofthe soap, and the solvents butyl carbitol and cellosolve. It may beremarked that three factors must be kept in mind in preparing thecomposition of the compounded oil. The viscosity must be such that theexcess oil is removed in the extracting operation and not in spinning.In respect to hygroscopic character, it should be suffi- 'cient to takeup' the necessary water on the silk at knitting, The compoundedoilshould be capable of being readily removed in the ordinary boiling-offprocess: x

In general, it may be said that the hygroscopic property may be adjustedby the useof solvents of not less than 75 F., boiling point, and capableof washing out with weak soap solutions. In

some cases, thread treated by the present invention regains stretchbetter than threads as now prepared, which, of course, is anadvantage.

At present, textile fibers, after soaking, are run through a bath ofwater immediately before they enter into the fabric-shaping operation,such as the knitting, weaving, or braiding step. This is particularlytrue of certain hosiery manufacturing processes. By the use of thecompounded oil of my invention, it is, in some cases, possible todispense with the step of passing the fibers through the water bath and,instead, to manufacture the fabric directly from the fiber, drawing thefiber directly from the cone. Due to its hydroscopiclty, the use of mynovel compounded oil also improves the fiber when the fiber is my novelcompounded oil .directly before the fabric manufacturing operations Theoil 'absorbed by the fibers in their passage through the bath-puts thefibers in suitable condition for the fabric-making operation.

The present invention being chemical in its nature, the scope ofequivalents appropriate to such cases is reserved. k I

1. The process of treating raw silk for f ullfashioned hosiery, whichprocess comprises, applying to the silk, compounded oil of the viscosityof from-40 to 300 seconds Saybolt universal viscosity at 100 F. and ofthe character of a true solution and insufiicient in amount to cover thesilk, removing the excess compounded oil by extracting the excess fromthe silk, subjecting the silk to the throwing operation which formsthreads on cones, and subsequently forming the threads intofull-fashioned hosiery directly from the cone without passingthe threadsthrough a.

'moistening device.

2. The process of treating raw silk for knit fabric, which processcomprises, applying to the silk, compounded oil of the viscosity of from40 to 300 seconds Saybolt universal viscosity at 100 F. and of thecharacter of a true solution and insufiicient in amount to cover thesilk, removing the excess compounded oil by extracting the excess fromthe silk, subjecting the silk to the throwing operation which formsthreads on and insuflicient in amount to cover the silk, re-

moving the excess compounded oil by extracting the excess from the silk,subjecting the silk to a. throwing operation which form threads oncones, passing the threads through an oiling device, and forming thethreads into knit fabric directly after their passage through the oilingdevice.

HENRY A. STAFFORD.

